Does new Walter Mitty reflect a diminished idea of heroism? Kevin Modesti

Ben Stiller, as the title character in “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” passes an imagined magazine cover showing Mitty as an astronaut. The movie’s main daydream sequences feature much less grand concepts of heroism.

Everything about Ben Stiller’s movie “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” is pretty good. Except the small matter of the secret life itself.

In this modern take on the classic James Thurber short story and Danny Kaye movie, Walter Mitty still daydreams about a life of heroism, but now it’s heroism of a sadly small and self-centered sort.

Think back to the Thurber and Kaye versions. Mitty’s fantasies make him a Navy commander bravely leading a hydroplane crew through a storm, a bomber pilot risking his life for his country, a Western gunslinger and a famous surgeon saving a banker friend of the president.

Now, the Stiller version. Mitty imagines himself as a ladies’-man mountain climber, and one-upping an obnoxious boss with a witty rejoinder, and saving his sweetheart’s puppy from an explosion.

What’s happened to Walter Mitty’s daydreams?

The Thurber and Kaye versions — which came out in 1938 and 1947 — surely reflected World War II-era ideas of heroism, which involved saving the world from fascism, behaving selflessly in the face of danger, old-fashioned stuff like that.

The corollary would be that the Stiller movie version reflects modern sensibilities, which favor self-actualization over self-sacrifice.

Climb that mountain! Put that mean boss in his place! In the daydream where Mitty rescues the dog, he seems to have superhero powers; the feat doesn’t require courage.

The theme of this year’s Academy Awards show March 2 is movie heroes. It’s a relief to see “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” didn’t get any of the Oscar nominations announced Thursday.

Still, it’s not great news if Walter Mitty’s new fantasies are what passes for heroics these days. Maybe we’ve seen too many old-style heroes disgraced to buy those images anymore. Or maybe we’re just more self-centered.

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Maybe it’s no surprise that the powerful aides of a certain New Jersey governor seemed to take such great satisfaction not from, say, helping the people of their state, but from pulling a sophomoric, selfish political stunt. No surprise the rest of us have found such fulfillment in making fun of them.

This “Walter Mitty” might have a better grip on the real world than anyone should wish.